Re~uPP`d, originally posted on 06.01.2008...
- Dunn, I've been looking for this for a minute for a minute good looks on
the post. G Rap's verse on 'Friend Of Ours' is straight bananas!!!
Keep doing your thizzle, one -
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:05:00 pm
What`s up y`all? Hope all is well & Life hasn`t been stressin` ya too hard! If it has don`t let it get you all down & depressed because Life itself isn`t as long as ya think, you may not wake up tomorrow. So enjoy your days alive while you have them, I know it`s a lot easier to say than it is to do but trust me you don`t want your last day on Earth to be spent being mad at someone you love because of some petty ish! Anyways I`m done rambling on about Life, guess I just got a lil` caught up since the month that just passed (March) reminded me of how precious Life really is. The reason? Well Hip Hop lost Magic (of No Limit Records fame) on March 1st, Biggie on March 9th, Nate Dogg on March 15th, Eazy-E on March 26th & Freaky Tah on March 28th. I`m sure if ya wanted to get technical every month of the year probably has a big list of fallen soldiers, I may have even missed a few in March, but it just hit me hard because 3 of my favorite emcees (Biggie, Eazy-E & Nate Dogg) died in March. Unlike 2Pac these kats didn`t leave behind much unreleased material, at least to my knowledge anyway. So it just made me think about how short & precious ya` Life really is. Then after diggin` up this album from fallen emcee E Moneybags (because folks have been requesting a re~up) & hearing the potential that this kat had that was cut short, it`s really sad. Hip Hop has lost many great artists before they even had a chance to reach their prime, but that`s a story for another post...
Let`s get to this re~up shall we? The album in question is E Moneybags` "In E Moneybags We Trust". First thing`s first, I`m not sure if the tunes I have to share with y`all are from a cassette rip or maybe the CD source they were ripped from wasn`t of the best quality sound~wise or maybe that`s just how they originally sound like, either way the sound quality isn`t that great. Forgive me for not knowing much about this album, I believe that it was released independently in 1999 thru Grand Imperial Records, a label that Moneybags co-owned along with Majesty of the Live Squad. It`s not that long of a listen with its short running time of just over 35 minutes in length, but that doesn`t mean that it`s not worth checking out. E Moneybags definitely had some talent, but sadly Eric Smith a.k.a. E-Money Bags to the Hip Hop world, had his recording career along with his Life cut short on July 16th, 2001 while he sat in his Lincoln Navigator parked on a street in Queens Village, New York. His Navigator was reigned on by a hail of bullets, over 40 rounds from 3 different shooters. Moneybags was hit by 10 of the shots fired & died shortly after. Eric`s shooting was planned out by Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff in retaliation for the 1999 murder of Colbert "Black Just" Johnson, an associate of McGriff`s. A month later (August 2001) police found a videotape & on the video filmed from July 13, 2001 to July 16, 2001, E Moneybags is seen driving & parking his Navigator on the Queens Village street where he was later gunned down that night at 9:45pm...
The video was filmed by 2 of McGriff`s associates; Dennis "Divine" Crosby, a drug~dealer & his girlfriend Nicole Brown. Six years later in February 2007 the Supreme Team`s founder Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff was found guilty for ordering the hits on Eric "E-Money Bags" Smith & Troy Singleton in 2001. He was sentenced to Life for the murders & other drug~related crimes. As for E Money Bags, I don`t know much about him. Actually the only thing that I knew prior to doing a little research was that he repp`D Lefrak in Corona, Queens, had lots of ReSPeCT in the streets & had worked with the likes of Kool G. Rap, Prodigy, Nas, Capone-N-Noreaga, Live Squad & even the late great 2Pac to name a few. "In E Moneybags We Trust" was his first & only album released in 1999 with featured appearances by Nature, Nas, Capone-N-Noreaga, Live Squad, Kool G. Rap, Horse, Maze, Musolini, Diesel & the Show Boyz. So let`s get into my thoughts on it shall we???
Things open up with an Intro (how surprising, I know right?....LoL) that apparently features Capone of Capone-N-Noreaga fame, but it`s actually just a vocal sample taken from the "Capone Phone Home Outro" off the "War Report" album mixed into a pretty nice beat. The sample just gets looped thru~out the beat, so it`s not really anything that you`ll need to hear more than once unless you really like the beat of course. The first song on the album is "Regulate", a DoPe song backed by a sweet instrumental. It`s just a shame that they cut it so short. I know that there is a version of this song that features Prodigy of Mobb Deep (probably released posthumously) & it does seem as though they just cut out the rest of the song for some reason. It would have been great to hear the entire song, but it is what it is. "Ain`t Got A Clue" uses a Foxy Brown vocal sample taken from "Affirmative Action" for the hook. The beat uses a loop that is somewhat simplistic, but it doesn`t matter much once the drums kick in `cuz it holds a definite New York vibe to it. E Moneybags spits that street braggadocio ish, but he does it well...
"All They Do Is This" features the Showboys. I had no clue about the Showboys, but then the homie jackP over on Bomb 1st schooled me on `em a bit which was much appreciated! The Showboys are a duo that rep Queens, New York. Members consisted of Triggaman & Bugs Can Can, they first hit the Hip Hop World in 1985 with the Profile Records released "The Ten Laws Of Rap b/w Cold Frontin`" 12 inch single. Then in 1986 they released another single called "Drag Rap (Trigger Man)", which later on received somewhat of a revival of sorts when plenty of artists down South, mainly in New Orleans & Memphis ended up using it as a foundation for some of their Bounce style records. In 1991 the Boys released another 12 inch single titled "Gangster Walk" thru Get Buck Records & in 2000 they released their debut album titled "YIIG`$" thru PaperGame Records. Long story short The Showboys are the kats who ended up taking Stretch (of Live Squad) from the streets to the recording studio & under their wing...
So let`s get back to "All They Do Is This", this joint is probably my least favorite on the album. It`s not completely wack, but in my opinion it is just too long & the beat feels uninspired to me. I think it`s a play on Goodie Mob`s "They Don`t Dance No Mo`" except they flip it; "Niggas don`t fight no mo` all they do is this"... which is followed up by guns being cocked & fired. It was kind of entertaining for the first 2 minutes or so but about 4 & a quarter minutes of it gets a little boring to me. "What You Need?" features E`s homies the Live Squad, the beginning of the track has somewhat of an interlude where they snatch up some kat & eventually kill him, well you don`t really hear that but you do hear a gun cocked so you can only guess that dude gets shot, then the song starts. One thing that you`ll notice is the chemistry that E has with Live Squad. Anyway the beat`s got a mellow vibe to it, while each emcee takes turns spitting some street tough talking business. The song`s not super spectacular, but it`s definitely not wack either...
"Want It" features both Nas & Horse, even though Horse is uncredited he`s the one spitting the second verse on this track. This song also has a mellow`D out vibe to it, but even though it`s soft & relaxing in sound it still holds its street character. Of course Nas outshines all that are featured on the track, but Moneybags still manages to hold his own. "How Cool" features Nature & sounds like it could have been done for one of those late `90's mixtapes. Both kats take turns trading braggadocio rhymes & the end result is a decent effort. "Thugged Out" features Noreaga & a few members of his crew; Maze, Musolini & Diesel who for some reason are just credited as Thugged Out. This joint was probably done for some DJ Clue mixtape seeing as how they give him some shout outs on here. Like the previously mentioned Nature collabo` "Thugged Out" is another decent listen. "Friend Of Ours" is a collabo` that features the legendary Kool G. Rap as well as Nature. Unfortunately the sound quality of this song isn`t that great because this joint is a banger! The beat has a nice killer Soul sample that some may recognize (think Mood`s "Karma"). Hopefully I can eventually track down a better sounding version of this track someday. G. Rap steals the show on this one, my opinion of course -- even if he did later recycle his verse from this track for "3 To The Dome" on Sway & King Tech`s "This Or That" album...
The "Esco Intro" is simply just the last few seconds of Noreaga`s "Da Story" & serves basically as a shout out to E Moneybags from Nas. The album closes out with "Thugs Calm Down" featuring Nas & Noreaga, a great tune without question. I just love that beat, the piano loop is catchy as fuck! This version is the original from what I can tell, but I know some of y`all probably heard the other version of this track that is out there that features Tragedy Khadafi instead of E Money Bags. The story behind the 2 different versions is that Tragedy took E`s verse off the track because he felt that it was wack, you can peep a little article about that story here. So there you have it, do I think that this album`s a 5 mic masterpiece? No, but it does give us a glimpse at the potential that E Moneybags possessed. He wasn`t the best rapper, but he did have his moments. I think that this kat was more concerned with his street hustlin` than he was with his rappin` hustle though, which is kind of a shame because he may still be alive had he chose to spend more time in the booth & less time hangin` out in them streets. Then again ya never know, look at what happened to Biggie. Anyway you should probably give this joint a listen if you`re a fan of that late `90's New York sound, enjoy...
Label: Grand Imperial Records
Released: 1999
Released: 1999
1. Intro {ft. Capone}
2. Regulate
3. Ain`t Got A Clue
4. All They Do Is This {ft. Showboys}
5. What You Need? {ft. Live Squad}
6. Want It {ft. Nas & Horse}
7. How Cool {ft. Nature}
8. Thugged Out {ft. Noreaga, Maze, Musolini & Diesel}
9. Friend Of Ours {ft. Kool G. Rap & Nature}
10. Esco Intro
11. Thugs Calm Down {ft. Nas & Noreaga}
2. Regulate
3. Ain`t Got A Clue
4. All They Do Is This {ft. Showboys}
5. What You Need? {ft. Live Squad}
6. Want It {ft. Nas & Horse}
7. How Cool {ft. Nature}
8. Thugged Out {ft. Noreaga, Maze, Musolini & Diesel}
9. Friend Of Ours {ft. Kool G. Rap & Nature}
10. Esco Intro
11. Thugs Calm Down {ft. Nas & Noreaga}
MeGa LiNK...
R.i.P. E MoNeyBaGs...
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